Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm
Case Name: Wisconsin Legislature v. Palm
Type of Case: Original Action
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Case Number: 20-AP-765-OA
Filed On: April 21, 2020
Current Status: Petition for an Original Action and Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction filed and fully briefed, awaiting decision
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), on behalf of a group of Wisconsin small business owners, filed an amicu sbrief in support of the Wisconsin Legislature’s original action challenging the extension of the ‘Safer at Home’ order. WILL’s amicus brief takes on the authority of the Secretary of Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS) to issue an extension of ‘Safer at Home’ beyond the date of Wisconsin’s declared public health emergency.
WILL’s amicus brief urges the Court to rule that the actions taken by Governor Tony Evers and DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm to extend the ‘Safer at Home’ order past the period of the state of emergency declared by the Governor are unconstitutional.
Nondelegation Doctrine: The extension of Wisconsin’s ‘Safer at Home’ order beyond the expiration of Governor Tony Evers’ public health emergency declaration is an unconstitutional delegation of authority to DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm. In short, if the Governor’s emergency powers expire, he cannot transfer, or delegate those same powers to authorize a statewide lockdown to his DHS Secretary.